After he took his first win in Estonia, Pajari made it back-to-back WRC victories to move into second in the standings behind Evans.
Pajari was the beneficiary when nine-time champion Sebastien Ogier crashed out of the lead on Saturday’s penultimate stage on a high-speed right-hand corner on the fast gravel roads.
Both Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia were taken to hospital after the accident but the French driver posted on social media on Saturday night that the pair would remain in hospital overnight as a precaution but “we both feel okay, which is the most important”.
Oliver Solberg, who was battling back pain on the fast jumps on the stages, and co-driver Elliott Edmondson finished in second place to complete a Toyota lock-out of the podium places.
The Hyundai duo of Adrien Fourmaux and Thierry Neuville were fourth and fifth, while Takamoto Katsuta and Northern Ireland co-driver Aaron Johnston crashed into trees on the final stage but recovered to finish in sixth place.
After the issues for Katsuta and Ogier, Pajari is now second in the standings behind Evans ahead 11th round of the season in Paraguay from 27-30 August.
Motorsport Ireland driver Josh McErlean finished the rally in seventh position as the best of the M-Sport Ford drivers.
Team-mate Martins Sesks crashed heavily on Saturday to drop out of fifth place, while Jon Armstrong’s chances of a strong result came to an end on Friday after he spun and got stuck in a ditch.
“It’s been a crazy weekend in terms of all the crews,” McErlean said.
“A lot of new stages, a lot of new pace notes and whenever you come to a rally this fast it is super-difficult to get right.
“So we have to be pleased to get through cleanly”.
Rally Finland results
1. Sami Pajari FIN/Marko Salminen FIN (Toyota) 2:27.358.0
2. Oliver Solberg SWE/Elliott Edmundson GB (Toyota) +26.7 seconds
3. Elfyn Evans GB/Scott Martin GB (Toyota) +1:19.5
4. Adrien Fourmaux FRA/Alex Coria FRA (Hyundai) +1:35.4
A Scottish gold made up for the fact Scott missed out on his bid to defend his 200m freestyle title and add a 16th Commonwealth medal, having failed to qualify for the final at the end of a rigorous schedule.
And Evans’ success was not the only one cheered to the roof of Tollcross instead.
Aberdeen’s Toni Shaw stopped an Australian clean sweep of medals in the women’s S9 100m freestlye final to replicate the bronze of Birmingham four years ago.
“I had lots and lots of nerves even before the walkout, all day since my heat,” Shaw told BBC Scotland.
“But we’ve got a good support team and they helped me keep my cool and wish me luck. All you can do is swim as fast as you can and that’s the mentality I went into the race with.”
Meanwhile, Keanna MacInnes added 200m butterfly silver, having also come second in the 100m. The 24-year-old played her part in the relay silver too to take her own tally to three.
As she stood next to her relay team-mates Katie Shanahan, Evans, and Evelyn Davis the Stirling swimmer reflected on a Games during which Scottish swimmers have delivered 12 medals, four of them gold.
“If you said to me at the start of the week I’d win two medals I’d be over the moon – sneaking that extra mixed medley one last night was special for all of us,” MacInnes said.
“We heard it a 100 times, about the crowd being amazing but it absolutely delivered. I’m a proud and patriotic Scot so there’s been a lot of tears this week.
“Not only is it 12 medals but there are a lot of golds and silvers, not necessarily sneaking into bronze. That shows the depth.
“There were so many finals with multiple Scots in them. So not just medals but lots of personal and season’s bests which shows how good the team has been this week.”
Tom Holland is officially the first “Hot Ones” guest to really spill his guts during a spicy interview.
During a Thursday appearance on the popular talk show — where guests answer questions while eating chicken wings with increasingly spicy sauces — the actor struggled to keep his composure.
Host Sean Evans cranked up the heat with each burning question to Holland and fellow actor Jon Bernthal, his co-star in not one but two of the biggest cinematic events of the summer, “The Odyssey” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” While Holland began the interview with an eloquent discussion of his two blockbuster films, Evans’ lineup of 10 hot sauces, each hotter than the one before, had the “Uncharted” star on the verge of blacking out.
After Holland bit into his chicken wing slathered with the second sauce — Hot Bergine, a roasted eggplant and tomato sauce with a 3/10 heat level — the actor described his first day on the set of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.”
“I wanted to get a bit of a jump on how Chris likes to work and just watch from afar,” he said, noting that he wasn’t filming any scenes that day, but watched his colleagues working from the beach. “I arrived at the beach, and I could not see a single crew member. You just see miles and miles of ships and extras and warriors and horses, and you’re asking yourself, ‘Where is the crew?’”
“So then they asked me to walk down this beach, and every 10 minutes you’d hear ‘Rolling!’ and I’d have to lie down and hide behind these dunes. And I kept asking myself, where are they rolling? I can’t see the crew anywhere. Then eventually I got down to where Matt [Damon] was and his men, and it really felt at that moment like we were a part of something that had never been done before.”
By sauce No. 4 — Chickpotle, a creamy chickpea sauce with smoky chipotle and ghost pepper with a 4/10 heat level — Holland and Bernthal were loosening up and trading barbs. Holland discussed how speaking in an American accent (rather than his native British) is almost like having a disguise, which makes his job as an actor easier.
“But I would love to explore some more British accents because you know, as an island, we have some of the most interesting, unique, and fun accents,” he told Evans. “I think there’s more accents in Britain than any other country.”
Bernthal, visibly uncomfortable from the heat of his own chicken wing, quipped, “Why does it always got to come to competition … I would go out on a on a limb to say there are more accents in America than there are in Britain.”
Holland said he would “drink a shot of that hottest hot sauce” to prove he’s right. After some quick fact checking, “Hot Ones” production confirmed that Holland was correct — among English-speaking countries, anyway.
By hot sauce No. 10 — The Last Dab: Thermageddon, described as a slow-building superhot sauce forged with Pepper X, Apollo, Carolina Reaper and Scorpion peppers, ranked at a heat level of 11/10 — the two actors had completely lost their composure and appeared nearly drunk on hot sauce.
Eyes red, cheeks tear-stained and foreheads pouring sweat, the two squirmed in their seats and Bernthal said he was going to be sick. Still, the “Odyssey” star appeared to have made it through without spewing any body fluids.
Then Holland got up to snap a photo with Bernthal and Evans and barfed on the floor. While the actor may have been embarrassed, Bernthal cheered and Evans crowned him the first guest to lose his lunch.
Last year, Evans told The Times that the interview format, with its squirm-inducing sauces, was a tactic to turn what might otherwise be a typical press tour interview into something raw and real.
“On ‘Hot Ones’ you have those moments of people who are struggling, who are vulnerable, who are in a borderline state of panic. You have emotions that are real, and all of these things are so hard to get to in a traditional interview setting,” he said. “The fact that we can create these moments, and then combine it with this thoughtful career-spanning interview, all of those elements working together, it just gives you a unique look at the celebrity guests … What we’re doing is knocking them off of that pedestal down to a level that everyone can relate to. It’s very human.”
In 2024, Evans sacrificed the 500 ranking points he had won at the Washington Open the previous year to partner fellow Briton Andy Murray for his final tournament at the Paris Olympics.
“Representing Great Britain in both Davis Cup and the Olympics remains the greatest honour of my career and something I will cherish for the rest of my life,” added Evans, who played 28 Davis Cup ties for Great Britain.
Evans, who was suspended for a year after testing positive for cocaine in 2017, thanked his family for their “unwavering support through every high and low”.
“I’m looking forward to finishing on a high… and giving everything I have one last time,” he said.
Wimbledon starts on 29 June, although Evans would have to go through qualifying or receive a wildcard to play in the main draw.
He has failed to advance through qualifying at the past three Grand Slams, while he received a wildcard for last year’s Wimbledon.
The tournament’s wildcard committee will meet on Tuesday to decide which players they would like to invite into the main draw.
LUKE Evans caused the Tony Awards audience to blush and sent social media spiraling after performing in a scandalously skimpy Frank-N-Furter costume live on CBS.
The Beauty and the Beast actor left little to the imagination, wearing just a tiny black jockstrap, a leather corset and sky-high heels for Sunday night’s Rocky Horror Show performance.
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Luke Evans performs a number from The Rocky Horror Show during the 79th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 7, 2026Credit: APThe actor performed as the iconic cult-classic character, Dr. Frank-N-FurterCredit: Getty
During the 79th Tony Awards held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, the ceremony paid tribute to the hit Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show.
Luke, 47, emerged through a cloud of smoke to perform his starring role as the iconic Dr. Frank-N-Furter with glam-rock chaos in full force.
He completed the sexy look with fishnet stockings, elbow-length gloves, dramatic stage makeup and the crystal-covered corset before launching into a raunchy rendition of the track Sweet Transvestite alongside the cast.
At one point during the performance, the Welsh actor spun around to flash the crowd in the barely-there costume while grinding across the stage and dramatically whipping off a velvet cape to reveal the jockstrap underneath.
The raunchy performance instantly sent social media into a meltdown as viewers praised Luke for fully committing to the campy cult-classic character.
“Luke Evans shaking his d**k and a** on stage at the Tony Awards while wearing his slutty Rocky Horror Frank-N-Furter costume…this is what Pride Month is all about!” one fan wrote on X.
Another viewer joked: “I did NOT expect Luke Evans in six-inch heels and a corset at the Tonys but now I never want him to take it off.”
A third person posted: “Broadway Luke Evans might be his most powerful form yet.”
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Luke Evans wore a jockstrap, tights, and a corset for an electrifying performanceCredit: APLuke dazzled the crowd as Dr. Frank-N-Furter for the Rocky Horror Picture Show performanceCredit: Getty
Luke has been starring as Frank-N-Furter in the Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show since previews began earlier this spring, with the production officially having its opening back in April at the Hudson Theatre.
The actor previously admitted he spent months preparing physically for the demanding role, which includes elaborate choreography, live vocals and multiple quick-change costume moments throughout the show.
Frank-N-Furter, the provocative alien scientist at the center of Rocky Horror, was originally made famous by Tim Curry in the 1975 cult-classic film adaptation.
Now, Luke has made it his own, putting a darker and more seductive spin on the iconic role.
Luke Evans, pictured here before undergoing his Rocky Horror transformation, poses on the Tonys red carpetCredit: GettyLuke Evans, left, and Amber Gray perform Time Wrap from Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show’ at the TonysCredit: AP
While Luke may be stirring up conversation on Broadway these days, the actor has spent years building an impressive resume across film, television and theater.
Many fans recognize the star as the villainous Gaston in Disney’s 2017 live-action Beauty and the Beast opposite Emma Watson, where his booming musical vocals and cocky swagger made him a standout.
He also starred as Bard the Bowman in The Hobbit trilogy and played the sinister Owen Shaw in Fast & Furious 6 before later reprising the role in the franchise’s spinoff projects.
On television, Luke has taken on darker dramatic roles in projects including The Alienist, Nine Perfect Strangers and Hulu’s true-crime miniseries Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue.
Broadway audiences, meanwhile, have long known Luke for his powerhouse stage vocals.
Before his Hollywood breakthrough, he starred in major London West End productions including Rent, Miss Saigon, Avenue Q and Piaf.
His turn as Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show marks Luke’s splashiest return to the stage in years – and judging by the positive Tony Awards reaction, audiences are fully embracing his comeback.
The Bob Baker Marionette Theater was about to debut its first new production in 45 years, and it was uncertain whether one of the show’s signature new puppets would even work. A pelican, with an oversized bucket-like beak, was in need of last-minute maintenance.
This gangly bird, designed to hop, skip, soar and sing to Clarence Henry’s mid-’50s rhythm and blues hit “Ain’t Got No Home,” was supposed to surprise the audience, as its elongated bill is actually hiding a frog. Getting the pelican-frog duo to perform in unison was a feat of mechanical artistry for the team, not to mention the choreography needed by the puppeteer.
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And in the minutes before showtime, director Alex Evans was trying to stay calm. In such moments, he would say later, he only need remind himself of an old adage in the puppet arts.
“Puppets,” he says, “break all the time.”
With that, he was ready to embrace the unknown.
“I always say I love the chaos of live theater,” Evans says. “We got to believe in this thing.”
“Choo Choo Revue,” the latest in a long line of song-and-dance productions, is arriving at a momentous time for the Bob Baker Marionette Theater. Just last month the troupe announced its intent to purchase its venue on Highland Park’s York Boulevard for $5 million, doing so as it was gearing up for performances at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The latter went viral, a fact Evans attributes to many of the first week shows of “Choo Choo Revue” selling out.
An organist plays while people file into the premiere of “Choo Choo Revue” at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater.
In many ways, “Choo Choo Revue” is a statement piece. Evans, who also serves as co-executive director with Mary Fagot, wants to place the spotlight on the theater’s current crop of artists, fabricators and collaborators. While the show pays tribute in many ways to the theater’s legendary namesake founder, perhaps most notably in its use of his vintage record collection, it’s time, Evans says, for the Bob Baker Marionette Theater’s next generation to shine.
Evans was instrumental in the decision to shift the team away from the previously announced production of “Arabian Nights,” a project once spearheaded by Baker, who died in 2014. Just ahead of the arrival of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the theater had gone so far as to print an “Arabian Nights” program, and had finished sets and puppets ready to go.
“Choo Choo Revue” is the first new Bob Baker Marionette show since 1981’s “Hooray LA!”
During the forced closure, however, the team began to rethink its future. “It was a deep-breath time to do some internal thinking about who we are and what we want to prioritize,” says Evans, who joined the company in 2007 as a volunteer and became a staffer in 2009.
“The first new show in 40 years — us finishing one of Bob’s shows would have been deeply personal and meaningful, but it would have kept the narrative, internally and externally, that this was one person’s vision,” Evans says. “‘Choo Choo’ is the culmination of so many different ideas and people. It was purposefully about opening the floodgates, that Bob Baker could be more than just the person of Bob Baker.”
It wasn’t a sure thing the Bob Baker Marionette Theater would even reach this milestone. For much of the past decade — since about the death of the theater’s patriarch — the narrative surrounding the theater was one of survival.
In 2019, the Bob Baker Marionette Theater needed a lifeline. Forced out of its edge-of-downtown home of more than 55 years, the beloved troupe with its thousands of handcrafted puppets — a saucy black cat in heels, a fish out of water that can’t help but wiggle — ultimately found a new location in a Highland Park theater, where it signed a 10-year lease.
Then came the pandemic, when the theater relied heavily on community fundraising to cover its rent. California, and Hollywood in particular, has a rich puppetry tradition. Bob Baker Marionette Theater likes to refer to itself as the largest ongoing puppet theater in the U.S. The oldest puppet space in the country resides up north in Oakland at amusement park Children’s Fairyland. And in 2020, Bob Baker found it had many fans, asking at one point to raise $365,000 over the course of a year. It did so in four weeks.
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1.L Castro twirls a marionette.2.The audience gives a round of applause after the premiere of “Choo Choo Revue.”3.People stand in line for the premiere of “Choo Choo Revue” at the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre.(Carlin Stiehl/For The Times)
Old favorites, including the theater’s famed black cat marionette, make appearances in “Choo Choo Revue.”
But it was the long process of buying its home, namely the belief that it would be in Highland Park to stay, that gave the company the confidence that it could go forward with a new show. The obvious question, of course, is why it took 40 years for a completely fresh Bob Baker experience. Evans gives a long answer, pointing to numerous hurdles, be it the shift in locations, the cost of preserving its historic puppets and collection, as well as just managing priorities.
“It’s not necessarily a financial hurdle,” Evans says, noting “Choo Choo Revue” cost $300,000, with about half of that sum dedicated to the creation of new puppets and scenery.
“I think it was more about priorities,” Evans says. “Like, do we get the staff healthcare first, or do we do a new show first? So we got the staff healthcare. Or do we give the stage better lighting.”
As for how and why the team settled on “Choo Choo Revue” as its first production since 1981’s “Hooray LA!,” Evans says not to overthink it.
“It made me giggle,” he says. “It was a jumping off point to imagination. ‘Choo Choo Revue,’ by name itself, I thought to giggle.”
The show is a fantastical representation of a cross-country train trip, filled with adorable puppet trains.
A meticulously detailed log with windows, for instance, or a car that seems to balance natural, mountainous wonders on its back. They’re colorful playthings, at least until the background scenery starts depicting various locomotive styles. Puppeteers will whisk train cars out into the open, each often housing a fantastical creature — a moose, for instance, who takes a break from knitting to prance around to a rendition of the on-theme traditional blues ditty “Midnight Special.”
Behind it all are tens of thousands of hours of handcrafted proficiency. Each new puppet is a work of art. Take, for instance, a swarm of bats that seemed to glow in the dark (the creatures, created for “Choo Choo Revue,” made their debut during last year’s Halloween season).
The Bob Baker Marionette Theater created more than 100 new puppets for “Choo Choo Revue,” including a pelican hiding a frog in its beak.
Or an intricately detailed cicada band. They’re each playing tiny instruments — one a half-open sardine can, another a stringed matchbook. Their wings deserve a close inspection, as the translucent curved fixtures are inspired by stained glass windows. There are trees that ski, and train whistles with big lips and high heels, modeled after harmony group the Andrews Sisters. Wait till the latter toot off their tops, as each of the 100 new puppets is full of surprises.
“We get a bunch of different artists together, and we all brainstorm,” Evans says of the creation process. “Like, ‘Let’s all think for a second about anthropomorphizing trains.’ We did a series of sketches and showed them to each other. I honestly probably have a thousand different fascinating ideas for train movement.”
On opening night, the crowd claps along to the numbers, cheering with delight at each new piece of whimsy that rolls or soars onto the floor-level stage. And as for the showstopping pelican, the frog erupts out of its beak right on cue, a moment that indeed inspires a round of laughter and childlike awe.
As the imaginary train whisks the puppets around the country, the show manages to build anticipation just by making the crowd wonder what comes next. Say, for instance, a fluffy Sasquatch, or a crooner of a moon in pajamas singing an old-timey lullaby to all the little ones seated cross-legged on the floor.
Puppeteer Ginger Duncan twirls a marionette named Comedy.
Much of “Choo Choo Revue,” like the yawning, serenading moon, is rooted in the music of the past. That was a decision made to ensure the show feels in line with earlier Bob Baker works. Yet Evans says the team is emboldend after Coachella to start tackling more contemporary songs at its Highland Park headquarters. The crowd at the Indio festival, for instance, went wild for the puppets swooning to Ben Platt’s cover of Addison Rae’s hit tune “Diet Pepsi.”
“Honestly, if we had done Coachella last year, it would have pushed ‘Choo Choo’ further,” he says, noting he initially feared pop music could distract. “I didn’t think it could work in a way that wouldn’t throw you out of the show.”
And yet Evans doesn’t want to get ahead of himself. He nearly teared up at the end of the “Choo Choo Revue” premiere, saying the following afternoon that seeing this show come together after multiple years was second only to his 2025 wedding in terms of creating an “overwhelming feeling of pride, love and care.”
“Choo Choo Revue” culminates in a look toward the future. That’s when a sleek, silver, oversized high-speed bullet train arrives on the scene.
It can be read as a metaphor.
While the nonprofit is still seeking donor help — at the premiere, Fagot said the company now has secured $4.7 million toward its $5 million goal of buying the theater and it also hopes to raise an additional $2 million for building upgrades — its future is more secure than it has been at any time over the past decade.
At long last, the Bob Baker Marionette Theater can relax and look toward new horizons.
Evans, for instance, can’t help himself excitedly tease a potential next Bob Baker show. He says twice in the interview that the Olympics are on the troupe’s mind.
“We’ve got two years,” he says. And now the permanent home to house it.
